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FORMALISM PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM ARCHETYPAL FEMINIST CRITICISM POST-COLONIAL CRITICISM MARXIST CRITICISM Literary Criticism

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FORMALISMPSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

ARCHETYPALFEMINIST CRITICISM

POST-COLONIAL CRITICISMMARXIST CRITICISM

Literary Criticism

Literary Criticism, caricature of literary critics removing passages from books that displease them,

c.1830

FORMALISM

FORMALISM (1930s-present)

Points to consider:

Text as a complete isolated unit No consideration to social/historical contexts Author’s background irrelevant Readers should read neutrally/unemotionally Focus on the elements of fiction and how they work

together to create a coherent text

FORMALISM

Typical questions:

How does the work use imagery to develop its own symbols? (i.e. making a certain road stand for death by constant association)

How do character, plot and setting develop the story?How does irony work in the novel?How is the setting significant in this particular story?What does the form of the work say about its content?Is there a central/focal passage that can be said to

sum up the entirety of the work?How do the rhythms and/or rhyme schemes of a poem

contribute to the meaning or effect of the piece?

FORMALISM- ASSESSMENT

Strengths: The reader does not require external/contextual

knowledge in order to interpret the text.

Weaknesses: It divorces literature from its larger cultural context. It assumes that good literature is coherent while a

textthat is not coherent does not meet standards of goodliterature.

It ignores the author’s intentions.

PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM (1930s-present)

PSYCHOANALYTIC

The psychoanalytic approach was pioneered by Freud.

Points to consider: People’s behaviour is affected by their fears and

desires; Repressed fears and desires are communicated

through dreams, jokes, and slips of the tongue; Three areas of human mind: Id, Ego, Superego; The Oedipus Complex; Understanding of these psychological concepts can

provide insight into the text itself and the author’s intentions within;

PSYCHOANALYTIC

Typical questions: How do the operations of repression structure or inform the

work? Are there any oedipal dynamics - or any other family dynamics -

at work here? How can characters' behavior, narrative events, and/or images

be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example...fear or fascination with death, sexuality - which includes love and romance as well as sexual behavior - as a primary indicator of psychological identity or the operations of ego-id-superego)?

What does the work suggest about the psychological being of its author?

What might a given interpretation of a literary work suggest about the psychological motives of the reader?

Are there prominent words in the piece that could have different or hidden meanings? Could there be a subconscious reason for the author using these "problem words"?

ARCHETYPAL

The archetypal approach was pioneered by Jung.

Points to consider: Through its archaic pattern (archetype), the text

reflects the “collective unconscious” of the human race;

Archetype (Greek): arche – first and typos – form, type;

Categories of archetypes: character, theme, symbol, situation/event;

Western texts are primarily derived from Judeo-Christian scripture and Greco-Roman mythology;

Archetypal criticism seeks to explore the inter-textual connections;

ARCHETYPAL

Typical questions:Do the main characters fit into familiar roles e.g. hero,

tragic hero, scapegoat, outcast, shrew, star-crossed lovers?

 In what ways does the character conform to the basic stereotype, and in what ways does he/she break the stereotype?

 Would the story or theme be different if the protagonist or antagonist were not written in an archetypal role?

How does the text mirror the archetypal narrative patterns (quest, hero’s journey, loss of innocence?)

How does the protagonist reflect the hero of myth?Does the “hero” embark on a journey in either a physical

or spiritual sense?What trials or ordeals does the protagonist face? What is

the reward for overcoming them?

PSYCHOANALYTIC AND ARCHETYPAL- ASSESSMENT

Strengths: It encourages a close reading and analysis of the text. Provides the reader with a broader context.

Weaknesses: Danger of over-reading, seeing a symbol in everything.

(“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.) Need for background knowledge of psychology

(Psychoanalytic) or mythology/scriptures (Archetypal) inorder to adequately interpret and analyze literature.

FEMINIST CRITICISM

FEMINIST (1960s-present)

Points to consider: Through patriarchal ideology, women are oppressed

economically, politically, socially, and psychologically; In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is

other: she is marginalized, defined only by her difference from male norms and values;

All of western civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology (e.g. portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death in the world);

While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender (masculine or feminine). Feminist theory/literary criticism has as its ultimate goal promotion of gender equality;

FEMINIST

Typical questions:

How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?

What are the power relationships between men and women?

How are male and female roles defined?What constitutes masculinity and femininity?How do characters embody these traits?Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How

so? How does this change others’ reactions to them?What does the work reveal about the operations

(economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?

What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy?

FEMINIST - ASSESSMENT

Strengths:A long overdue examination of how women and

men are represented;Deals with the importance of women in literature;

Weaknesses: If this theory is the only one applied to a text, it can

be rather limiting.

POST-COLONIAL CRITICISM

POST-COLONIAL (1990s-present)

Points to consider: Focus on literature produced by colonial

powers and by those who were colonized; Issues of power, economics, politics, religion,

and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony (“History is written by the victors”);

Unique perspective on imperialism/colonialism from the perspective of those affected by it

Rethinking colonial hegemonic ideology (e.g. third world)

POST-COLONIAL

Typical questions: How does the literary text, explicitly or allegorically, represent

various aspects of colonial oppression? What person(s) or groups does the work identify as "other" or

stranger? How are such persons/groups described and treated? What does the text reveal about the politics and/or psychology of

anti-colonialist resistance? What does the text reveal about the operations of cultural

difference in shaping our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live?

How does the text respond to or comment upon the characters, themes, or assumptions of a canonized (colonialist) work?

How does a literary text in the Western canon reinforce or undermine colonialist ideology through its representation of colonization and/or its inappropriate silence about colonized peoples? (Tyson)

POST-COLONIAL - ASSESSMENT

Strengths: Encourages an examination of euro-centrism and

imperialism;

Weaknesses: The term/field of study is too expansive and not

precise enough; Takes away from the internal oppression within

the colonies; Deflects attention from continuing exploitation of

the Third World;

MARXIST CRITICISM

MARXIST (1930s-present)

Points to consider: Based on the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich

Engels, Marxism concerns itself with the economic struggles for power between the working class and those with power.

The continuing conflict between the classes will lead to upheaval and revolution by oppressed peoples, and form the groundwork for a new order of society and economics where capitalism is abolished.

Literature expresses the ideas, beliefs, and values of a culture.

Marxists assume that all literature is political and judge a text’s ideology (political correctness)

MARXIST

Typical questions:What/whose ideological values inform the text?Which class does the work claim to represent?What conflict can be seen between the values the

work champions and those it portrays?What social classes do the characters represent?How do characters from different classes interact

or conflict?Who has power (and of what sort) in the text?What ‘master’ social narratives are perpetuated or

critiqued? (e.g. the American Dream)

MARXIST - ASSESSMENT

Strengths: Encourages a careful reading of a text. Allows the reader to think about the text in its

social, historical, and current contexts.

Weaknesses: Some people may feel threatened by the focus on

“ideology”. Dismisses the beauty of writing and does not allow

the reader to simply enjoy the text.

Bibliography

Purdue Online Writing LabLiterary Criticism by M. WatsonGoogle Images